


Dead Man's Tongue

by arsenicarose



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Almost rape but nothing actually happens, Capture, F/M, Held Against Your Will, Language, Lost Culture, Secret Groups, Secret identites
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-23 02:48:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11393793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arsenicarose/pseuds/arsenicarose
Summary: You and Spencer are captured and held in a basement. The unsubs come down, and you understand everything they say. This seems normal, until Spencer tells you they were speaking a different language, one he had never heard before.





	Dead Man's Tongue

You wake up sprawled across a cold stone floor. With your gun gone, you feel naked, but you are fully clothed. Heavy chains encircle your wrists, attached to a metal pole in the center of the room. Spencer is passed out next to you, also chained. You don’t want to wake Spencer, but you need to test your escape routes. You pick up the chains, cringing at every sound they make, and see how far you can go. 

The chains allow you to walk a wide circle around the apparent basement, but you can’t reach any of the walls with your fingers. You manage to touch each wall with your boot, but that doesn’t seem helpful.

You sigh, and sit next to Spencer, checking him for injuries. You are injury free, but Spencer hasn’t woken up yet.

As you brush his hair aside, checking for head wounds, he wakes with a start. “Y/N? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know… We are trapped somewhere, but I don’t know why or how.”

“Yeah, I don’t remember either. How long have you been awake?”

“Only a few minutes. I checked for any escape, and to see if you were injured. No escape, and no injuries that I can see.”

He rubs his face with his hand. “Well, at least we don’t have any wounds, yet.”

“We’ll figure something out, Spence. Or the team will find us. Don’t worry.”

“I’m just really tired of getting captured.”

“We all are.” You look to the dingy window, trying to gauge the time. It is dim in the basement, but it seems to be daylight outside. You can’t tell when in the day.

The door opens, and two burly men come through, both bearded and muscled.  _ “This had better be worth it,”  _ one with a redder beard growls to the other.

_ “Don’t worry. We will either get good money from a ransom or from their organs. FBI agents are always valuable. Clean guts and the government behind them,”  _ the one with the brown beard says.

_ “I don’t want to have to tear them open for money. It would be easier if they just gave it to us.” _

_ “We’ll see what happens.” _

“Here is some food for you,” Red says, “Eat up.”

He tosses a bag on the ground, and two bottled waters. The bag appears to be from a local fast food place, but not one you recognize.

“Thank you,” you murmur, going for demure damsel in distress.

“We will be back later. No funny business.” Brown says.

“Of course not,” Spencer says, taking the bag.

They turn to leave, slamming the door behind them. Spencer takes out a hamburger and hands you the bag.

“Well, at least they don’t want to kill us,” you say, taking a bite.

“How do you know?”

“They said it, right in front of us. They would prefer to ransom us back to the government. They are willing to sell our organs though. Hopefully the FBI likes us enough to pay.”

“Wait, you understood them?!”

“Well, yeah. Didn’t you?”

Spencer considers you carefully. “No, Y/N, they were speaking another language. One I didn’t recognize…”

“Oh, well that is… interesting," you murmur.

“Yes, it is. What language is it?”

“I don’t know. I don’t even know if I can speak it. I don’t remember learning it or anything.”

“What did they say?”

You parrot the conversation back to him as best you can. It would have been easier if Spencer knew the language. He would have remembered every minor twitch in tone and inflection.

Spencer thinks through the conversation. You can see his lips moving as he repeats it, his fingers twitching with a meaning only he understands.

“What are you thinking?” you ask.

“This could be good for us. They clearly don’t want us to know their plans, so we can use this to advantage. Let’s try to get as much information from them as we can. It might help our escape.”

“Alright, can do.” Now that you had been told it was a different language, you could see the differences in the conversation. They spoke their language more fluidly, and with a slightly higher pitch. Hopefully you would be able to tell the difference. Worse comes to worse, you can make Spencer tell you all the parts he understood and fill in the rest.

“Wait, Y/N. Can you speak it?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never tried.”

“Try to do it right now, before they come back. That would be to our advantage as well.”

_ “Alright. This is a test, to see if I can speak the language.” _ The words come fluidly, and you have a sudden realization. “Wait, is English my second language?”

Spencer’s eyes are wide, mouth slightly agape. “I think so… Wow, I didn’t understand what you said, but it sounded dead on. I guess the only way to know is to test it.”

You feel uncomfortable at the idea. What if you aren’t speaking the language at all, just imitating it? Or worse, what if you are just saying “fuck you” repeatedly? “Let’s see if we can’t get some more information first."

“Good idea.”

While you wait for Red and Brown to come back, you practice some of this new, or maybe old, language you didn’t know you had. It feels right, and requires far less thinking than English does. You are completely fluent in English, but this language is so fluid.

“Shhh! They’re coming back,” Spencer hisses.

English suddenly sounds grating and unwelcome. Thankfully, Red and Brown are speaking the mystery language when they come in.

_ “The FBI seems willing to cooperate. Apparently, the boy is a genius.” _

_ “That can’t be the only reason. What about the girl?” _

_ “Of course it isn’t the only reason! You know how people are about team members. They will do everything they can to save them. I’m sure of it. No guts today. Hopefully.” _

_ “Wait, if he’s a genius, can he figure out what we are saying?” _

_ “I don’t know. Find out.” _

Red is suddenly in Spencer’s face, beard almost touching Spencer’s shaved cheeks.  _ “You are a tiny piece of shit. You may be tall, but you are skinny and weak. I’m going to rape your friend to death and make you watch. How do you feel about that?” _

You control your expression, which is easy since no one is watching you, and wait. Spencer’s reaction of blind confusion and mild panic seems to satisfy them.

“Alright, agents. Your team wants proof of life. Don’t give anything away, or we will kill you,” Brown says.

Red pulls a phone out of his pocket and dials. Hotch picks up after one ring.

“Hello FBI agent. We have two of your own here. We demand five million dollars for their safe return. If one is more valuable to you, we will accept 3 million for them, and we will keep the other.”

“I won’t give you anything until I know my agents are alive,” Hotch says, stern voice crackling the phone’s speaker.

“Speak, show him you are alive.”

“Hotch? It’s me, Reid. I’m alright. They haven’t done anything to us except chain us.”

“I’m alright too,” you call. With the 3-million-dollar offer, you worry about your usefulness to them team.

“We will save you as soon as possible. We just need to pull some strings in the Bureau. Please, be safe.”

Red says, “There your agents are fine. We will talk payment now.” He and Brown stomp up the stairs, slamming the door behind them.

“Hotch isn’t going to pay a ransom,” you whisper.

“I never thought he would. What did they say?”

You repeat the secret conversation as best you can, but you stumble through the threats Red screamed in Spencer’s face. His face crumples as you repeat it, and you hear your voice catching.

“Y/N, the next time they come down, you have to talk to them.”

“They were really worried that you had figured out their language! I don’t want them to kill me for knowing it!”

“I understand, but you know it. They were worried that I would be able to parse it through my intelligence. I think it is sacred to them. Maybe we don’t know it because it is only taught to a specific group of people."

 “What if I am not meant to be part of this group? What if I was taught it against code or whatever?”

“We have to try. They will figure out there is no money sooner or later…”

“Hopefully later,” you mumble. The sunlight was fading, and the room was become black. “Let’s try to get some sleep.”

“Yeah. Maybe Hotch will find us by morning.”

You don’t hold on to that. You know it won't happen.

\---

You wake up to the door slamming open.

_ “Come on! They won’t know! Just one time! We can just tell her that we will kill her if she tells.” _

_ “Don’t be ridiculous! They won’t pay full price if we damage her!” _

_ “That is why we keep the damage hidden. The boy is asleep. This is the perfect time!” _

_ “Fine, you go ahead, but I’m not going to. If they don’t pay us the full amount, it is coming out of your share.” _

_ “Whatever.” _

Red comes down the stairs, with Brown at the top. He is keeping a careful eye on you, worried that you will fight and escape.

“Come here, girly. I won’t hurt you if you struggle,” Red says, sliding towards you.

The words come before you can stop them.  _ “No, please! Don’t do this." _

_ “Wait,” _ Brown says, descending the stairs,  _ “You speak the Dead Man’s Tongue?” _

_ “I guess so,”  _ you reply,  _ “I didn’t know until I heard you speak it. It all flooded back.” _

_ “Why didn’t you say anything earlier? You must have heard our plans for you.”  _ Brown is the calmer of the two, and you are glad he heard you before Red took advantage.

The words flow easily, not just the actual language, but what you needed to say.  _ “I am not afraid of death, but I cannot let you take my honor. I heard your plans, but they did not frighten me, until your actions just now." _

Brown and Red look at each other and nod. You don’t know what that means, but you are hopeful.

_ “We cannot hurt a Dead Woman. We didn’t expect one of us to be in the FBI.” _

You don’t know what to say to that, so you don’t reply. You aren’t even sure if you are a “Dead Woman.”

_ “You had lost your tongue. Did you lose your soul as well?”  _ Red asks. His voice has become gentle, and you are no longer afraid of either of them

_ “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.” _

_ “Your tongue is the language. Your soul is the… culture,”  _ Brown clarifies.

_ “Oh, I understand. Yes, I lost my ‘tongue’ until your speaking helped me find it. I don’t know where my ‘soul’ is.” _

Brown and Red both shake their heads, cursing.  _ “So many of us have been lost. We cannot save them all.” _

_ “We can’t hold one us captive either!”  _ Red contradicts. When did he become an ally?

_ “How have we been lost?”  _ you ask.

_ “Many children were stolen. They had their tongues and souls cut out. Now we are scattered, scavenging mercenaries where we used to be the deadliest kindred of assassins the world had ever seen.” _

_ “Assassins?” _

_ “We cannot tell you everything. You may have your tongue, but without your soul, you are not one of us. All we can do is free you.” _

_ “And free him too.” _

_ “Why should we free him?” _

You wrack your brain, trying to figure out a way to save him. You speak the language, but you’ve lost some of the slang and other important meanings. Hopefully, this will work.  _ “He is my heart. We found each other through the Bureau, and I can’t live without him. Even if he isn’t one of ours, he is one of mine.” _

They look to each other, considering. They no longer speak secrets in front of you, which is unhelpful.  _ “Fine, keep the boy. How one such as he has captured your heart is unknown, but without your soul, you must have felt lost.” _

_ “I have.” _ As you say it, you realize it is true.  _ “Are you sure you can’t tell me more about who I am? I don’t know if I will ever find one of us again.” _

Brown shakes his head, sadly.  _ “Sorry, little one. We cannot help you. It is not our job. If you are meant to find your soul, you will.” _

You frown, but realize there is nothing else you can do, and you are wasting precious time.  _ “Please, just unchain us. I can get us both home without any help from you.” _

They smile at you, looking like proud fathers.  _ “Of course you can.” _

You turn to face Spencer, and see that he woke up at some point. He is looking at you with awe. Some part of you wonders if he knew how you had saved him, confessing feelings that no one knew of.

Brown and Red unlock your chains with soft, proud smiles.

_ “Go,” _ Brown said,  _ “You are free little one. I hope your life takes you where you need to go.” _

_ “Thank you. I wish the same for you. I wish we could have met under better circumstances.” _

_ “Me too.” _

You lead Spencer out the door and into the sunlight. It wasn’t a basement, apparently, but some kind of underground shed. There is nothing for miles, and you know going to the house for a phone isn’t an option.

“Come on, Spence, let’s go home.” You feel confident in what you said. You would be able to get you both home safely.

“What did you say to them to make them free us?”

“It’s a long story.”


End file.
